Arthur De Jong, Whistler Blackcomb’s mountain planning and environmental resource
manager, has long been forthcoming
about Whistler Blackcomb’s (WB) failures
and shortcomings on the environmental
front. It was one of those failures that led
to a long string of successes — one that
has seen it rise to the status of industry
leader. In 1993, 800 gallons of fuel spilled
on Blackcomb Mountain — “a direct
result of our deficient performance on the
environment,” said De Jong. “Although
we had strong due diligence in terms of
guest and staff safety, the spill was directly
our fault.” After the spill, WB’s leadership
team recognized an opportunity to work
with community partners and follow the
desire of many Whistlerites to see the
town, and the company, become a beacon
of environmental best practices, De Jong
said. The result of that change is a litany
of 35 separate awards for environmental
stewardship over the past two decades.

By the time Colorado-based Vail Resorts
announced its acquisition of WB for
$1.4 billion in August 2016, WB’s place
at the top of the mountain resort eco-sustainability ladder was already on the
radar screen of Rob Whittier and other
company brass. Vail Resorts, which owns
13 resorts in North America and one in
Australia, had a history of progressive
waste diversion and energy efficiency
practices and Whittier was keen to share
notes with the WB team.

“In my role, Whistler was the most
exciting acquisition that we could make,”
Whittier said. “Whistler was really
the leader in the industry in terms of
environmental commitment. Even before
we acquired them, I had looked in detail
at what Arthur and Whistler had done to
promote environmental sustainability.

“As soon as I could, I made a visit to
them [De Jong and Allana Williams,
WB energy manager and environmental
coordinator] to dig deep and understand
how committed they were,” said Whittier,
Vail Resorts’ director of environmental
sustainability. “It was great learning for
us and of course, it’s challenging to work
across all the resorts in three countries, but
we had some great thoughts from Arthur
and his team to help refine our company-wide strategy.”